History The faith of the Yodotai is, unsurprisingly, different in many ways from those of the Burning Sands. In the beginning there was darkness and Void. A uniform sea of nothingness, but one day an irregularity appeared, and in that irregularity, Gaia was born. The universe was a realm of infinite possibilities in an instant and from Gaia other worlds and realms began to spring forth. She discovered she could not reign in this creation by herself and so she created Caelus to help her. Gaia became the anchor of creation while Caelus became the far reaching net, enclosing creation and reigning the universe in. Once the madness died down, Caelus and Gaia set to the task of populating these new realms. Animals were placed in the most verdant lands, the spirits were separated by their focus. Noble Warriors, Great thinkers, Mischief makers and more, each was separated from the other to create order from the chaos.
With the universe finally calming down, Gaia and Caelus grew content, and in their contentment Gaia and Caelus gave birth to ten children. These children grew and learned and became distinct from one another as the various realms had become. The immortal children knew no strife and the Heavens instead focused on what was occurring with Gaia as something wholly unexpected began to occur. Gaia had become the anchor of the world, to which all other realms were tied. This common tie began to grow and form a new place where the spirits from all of the other realms were free to interact with one another. Sometimes spirits grew deep bonds with one another and a child was born. These children were unique in the universe, for as the Celestial Beings discovered, the mixing of the realms created not only something new, but the offspring came into this new world as a mortal being. It was during this time that the first creatures of the world came to being, including humanity, born of the mixtures of the spirits of ideals.
This change to the universe was alarming for the heavens and each child of Gaia took it in a different way. It was the Ninth child that decided that this could prove to be an opportunity to take that which he had always wanted, rule of the heavens. He whispered traitorous things to his eldest brother, convincing him of the inability of their father to lead. The eldest son trained himself for combat and took up arms against his father at the behest of his brother. The tragic conflict ended when Caelus slew his son and in his rage, flung the rest of his children from the heavens, down towards this new mortal realm. Striking the ground, they all died, though they discovered they could not leave this new realm. It was the child known as Conquest that found the Yodotai first, then convinced his other brothers and sisters to meet with them as well. Each has spent time in the lands of the Yodotai, sometimes trumpeted, other times in secret and as time passed they all learned how to move on to other realms, bouncing between the realms freely, though never returning to the Celestial estate of their parentage.
Conquest has returned to the Yodotai the most out of all of his siblings to lead them to victory time and time again, though the others return from time to time during their travels. Indeed the Twelfth Century has proven to be somewhat of a watershed century of arrivals for the Yodotai gods, something that is generally considered to be a fantastic omen for the future.
The Heavens All encompassing of the universe is the Celestial Palace, which sits at the heart of the universe and the edge of it at the same time. Here, Gaia and Caelus reside in splendor. Though the two have little companionship since the death and exile of their children, they have created servants to manage the Celestial Estate, the Angels. The Angels take care of the day to day matters of maintaining the balance of the universe and overseeing the minutiae of the other realms while Gaia and Caelus see to grander matters. The Angels themselves are divided into strictly hierarchical orders, ten in all each led by an Archangel, populate the heavens and guide the world in whatever way Gaia and Caelus have decreed.
The residents of the heavens that have the most to do with humanity however are likely the Saints, those humans who have lived the virtues of faith so strongly that they have been blessed by the gods. These figures deal more directly with humanity than other heavenly beings and are generally worshipped by various Cults that spring up in cities. All of the Empire’s Emperors and Warlords have become saints upon their deaths, but even everyday citizens may be declared as a saint, though such instances are very rare. Those unfamiliar with the faith may see Saints and Spirit Warriors to be the same thing, but they are not. Spirit Warriors are those who have shown themselves of great enough fervor and skill to continue the march of Conquest even after their death. They fight on the field of battle. Saints, while they can serve on the field of battle, as Octavius does, serve primarily as guides for mortal man and judges of morality as while the heavens decreed morality, it is humanity that best understands it as they are not bound to it.
Finally, there are the gods themselves. Gaia and Caelus do not tend to get involved in mortal affairs and have not for the past millennia. Their children have little choice to, having been banished from their parent’s home long ago they have become wanderers and travelers, exploring the universe while they await their father’s legendary temper to ease itself. All ten, as spirits untied to any realm, are free to explore the extent of the universe but they have not, so far as the Yodotai are aware, ever settled down to have children with any of the other spirits. They remain unnamed by the Yodotai people for fear of calling down Caelus’ wrath upon the Empire, and so exist as Vagabond Kings and Queens, exploring and ruling in equal measure.
The fate of the faithful upon their death is rather straightforward. They are judged by the Saints, including Octavius, and based on the values that person upheld or did not uphold in their life, their spirit is sent to whichever realm fits the spirit. There is a second option offered to many Yodotai faithful however. Those who were great warriors and who never wavered in their dedication to the cause are offered a place among the Spirit Legions where they shall battle alongside the Yodotai legions for generations to come.
The Cult of Decanus There is one specific point of contention in the Yodotai faith at the moment, and it revolves around the soldier’s cult of Decanus. Decanus is what the Yodotai call Duqaq, the prophet of the Burning Sands who played an important role in the Awakening. Decanus not only served as an advisor to Aurelius himself, but saw to the freeing of all of the Hanif slaves that the Senpet had taken, alongside the Scorpion Clan. Furthermore it was Decanus that led Aurelius and what remained of his forces out of Medinaat al-Salaam when the battle turned against the Yodotai, thus saving the Warlord’s life. Many of the Hanif that were enslaved or their children and many of the legionnaires serving in Medinaat al-Salaam pray to him as a Saint. That is problematic for many of the more orthodox faithful as, so far as any records are aware, Decanus never converted to the faith nor showed any devotion to Conquest or his siblings. Still, many, even priests, are wary of telling veterans who they can and cannot worship and it is known that the man was by all rights a hero of the Yodotai people. The issue is a complex one and unlikely to be resolved quickly or easily.
Displays of Faith Temples are a common sight in Yodotai lands, and while they are not as ostentatious as those temples found in Senpet lands, no one could ever say that the Yodotai do not take proper care of their temples. While large services are a rarity at the temples, holy days and large events such as coronations usually have time devoted to them. Faith is kept rather informal, even if it permeates much of the society. Sacrifices and tithes are the primary methods through which the people speak to the gods and support the Empire, a not insignificant portion of the military budget comes from tithes given to the various temples, with each sibling’s temple having a different portion of spending focused on. A temple to Conquest may devote tithes to recruitment efforts while a temple to Fidelity may donate to arms and equipment and a temple to the Mighty and Merciless Sea will donate their tithes to veteran support.
Sacrifices are a large part of religious life as well. If one expects to gain the attention of a Saint or a God over other petitioners after all, sacrifices need to be made. Animals are the most common sacrifices, with a great deal of power thought to reside in their blood specifically. Birds and small mammals are common sacrifices for the peasant classes. Boar, wolves, or other powerful or dangerous animals are favorites of soldiers, either on campaign or while stationed somewhere. Among the nobility, larger creatures are prized as sacrifices, bulls are a common trend, though horses have been known to be sacrificed in the past. Beyond the value of the creature itself is also it’s rarity. The more rare or well bred the sacrifice is, the more value it has. Albinos have the greatest value of all, and are seen as especially prized by the gods. Human sacrifices, however, are seen as anathema, the gods and the saints disapprove of such gifts, seeing them as barbarous and weak.
Upon death, traditions vary depending upon what section of the Empire one hails from. The two most common methods of sending on the mortal body however are cremation or burial. Among the Hanif, funerals can be large, state-wide affairs as each citizen clamors to give their respects to the deceased, but while respect is given to the body of the dead, little thought is given to the care of the body once it is dealt with. The spirit of the deceased is far more important than the body itself, and for this reason, many noble families build Death Rooms, where the plaster molds of their ancestors are placed in places of honor, where their spirits may look down and witness to the glories or dishonors of their families as the ages go on. It is of supreme importance among the Yodotai elite to never dishonor their Families, which causes many to strive for ambition regardless of the cost.
Lifestyle Faith in Conquest and his siblings is about supporting the State and the lifestyle of the faithful is a good representation of that. Many political positions are seen as blessed by either one or many of the gods and those in said positions are as much priests as they are political officers and are expected to take both positions very seriously. The results are mixed, of course, but such people rarely hold the position in question for long. Such Citizens are expected to be the representative of the gods, after all, and the people will not stand for representatives that may anger Conquest and his siblings.
For the most part, people see to their own affairs when it comes to faith. While priests may be called upon to bless a particularly important day or location or oversee an important sacrifice, for the most part people see to daily faith themselves, maintaining family shrines, making personal sacrifices and prayers. Portents, however, are always left to the professionals and are quite popular. While the Empire practices almost all of the variances of divination, the two most popular within the Empire are the practices of Augury and Haruspex. Imperial matters are often left to the Pentarchs, the five religious heads of the faith. Each Pentarch oversees a portion of the Empire in theory. In practice, the Empire has expanded far beyond the limits of any one Pentarch to actually oversee the faithful of their lands and they remain, for the most part, in Octavion. This leaves their underlings to oversee the day-to-day faith of their respective lands.
The people of the Yodotai Empire live with the knowledge that their ancestors and their gods are watching them constantly, making certain they live up to the standards that had been set before them. This certainty and judgement which go hand in hand can cause quite a bit of consternation as those less capable try to live up to the past that has been set out before them. The results are always spectacular, but not always good for the Empire. Still, with nothing ventured, nothing is gained, as the opinion of the Empire seems to be.
Conquest
History
The faith of the Yodotai is, unsurprisingly, different in many ways from those of the Burning Sands. In the beginning there was darkness and Void. A uniform sea of nothingness, but one day an irregularity appeared, and in that irregularity, Gaia was born. The universe was a realm of infinite possibilities in an instant and from Gaia other worlds and realms began to spring forth. She discovered she could not reign in this creation by herself and so she created Caelus to help her. Gaia became the anchor of creation while Caelus became the far reaching net, enclosing creation and reigning the universe in. Once the madness died down, Caelus and Gaia set to the task of populating these new realms. Animals were placed in the most verdant lands, the spirits were separated by their focus. Noble Warriors, Great thinkers, Mischief makers and more, each was separated from the other to create order from the chaos.
With the universe finally calming down, Gaia and Caelus grew content, and in their contentment Gaia and Caelus gave birth to ten children. These children grew and learned and became distinct from one another as the various realms had become. The immortal children knew no strife and the Heavens instead focused on what was occurring with Gaia as something wholly unexpected began to occur. Gaia had become the anchor of the world, to which all other realms were tied. This common tie began to grow and form a new place where the spirits from all of the other realms were free to interact with one another. Sometimes spirits grew deep bonds with one another and a child was born. These children were unique in the universe, for as the Celestial Beings discovered, the mixing of the realms created not only something new, but the offspring came into this new world as a mortal being. It was during this time that the first creatures of the world came to being, including humanity, born of the mixtures of the spirits of ideals.
This change to the universe was alarming for the heavens and each child of Gaia took it in a different way. It was the Ninth child that decided that this could prove to be an opportunity to take that which he had always wanted, rule of the heavens. He whispered traitorous things to his eldest brother, convincing him of the inability of their father to lead. The eldest son trained himself for combat and took up arms against his father at the behest of his brother. The tragic conflict ended when Caelus slew his son and in his rage, flung the rest of his children from the heavens, down towards this new mortal realm. Striking the ground, they all died, though they discovered they could not leave this new realm. It was the child known as Conquest that found the Yodotai first, then convinced his other brothers and sisters to meet with them as well. Each has spent time in the lands of the Yodotai, sometimes trumpeted, other times in secret and as time passed they all learned how to move on to other realms, bouncing between the realms freely, though never returning to the Celestial estate of their parentage.
Conquest has returned to the Yodotai the most out of all of his siblings to lead them to victory time and time again, though the others return from time to time during their travels. Indeed the Twelfth Century has proven to be somewhat of a watershed century of arrivals for the Yodotai gods, something that is generally considered to be a fantastic omen for the future.
The Heavens
All encompassing of the universe is the Celestial Palace, which sits at the heart of the universe and the edge of it at the same time. Here, Gaia and Caelus reside in splendor. Though the two have little companionship since the death and exile of their children, they have created servants to manage the Celestial Estate, the Angels. The Angels take care of the day to day matters of maintaining the balance of the universe and overseeing the minutiae of the other realms while Gaia and Caelus see to grander matters. The Angels themselves are divided into strictly hierarchical orders, ten in all each led by an Archangel, populate the heavens and guide the world in whatever way Gaia and Caelus have decreed.
The residents of the heavens that have the most to do with humanity however are likely the Saints, those humans who have lived the virtues of faith so strongly that they have been blessed by the gods. These figures deal more directly with humanity than other heavenly beings and are generally worshipped by various Cults that spring up in cities. All of the Empire’s Emperors and Warlords have become saints upon their deaths, but even everyday citizens may be declared as a saint, though such instances are very rare. Those unfamiliar with the faith may see Saints and Spirit Warriors to be the same thing, but they are not. Spirit Warriors are those who have shown themselves of great enough fervor and skill to continue the march of Conquest even after their death. They fight on the field of battle. Saints, while they can serve on the field of battle, as Octavius does, serve primarily as guides for mortal man and judges of morality as while the heavens decreed morality, it is humanity that best understands it as they are not bound to it.
Finally, there are the gods themselves. Gaia and Caelus do not tend to get involved in mortal affairs and have not for the past millennia. Their children have little choice to, having been banished from their parent’s home long ago they have become wanderers and travelers, exploring the universe while they await their father’s legendary temper to ease itself. All ten, as spirits untied to any realm, are free to explore the extent of the universe but they have not, so far as the Yodotai are aware, ever settled down to have children with any of the other spirits. They remain unnamed by the Yodotai people for fear of calling down Caelus’ wrath upon the Empire, and so exist as Vagabond Kings and Queens, exploring and ruling in equal measure.
The fate of the faithful upon their death is rather straightforward. They are judged by the Saints, including Octavius, and based on the values that person upheld or did not uphold in their life, their spirit is sent to whichever realm fits the spirit. There is a second option offered to many Yodotai faithful however. Those who were great warriors and who never wavered in their dedication to the cause are offered a place among the Spirit Legions where they shall battle alongside the Yodotai legions for generations to come.
The Cult of Decanus
There is one specific point of contention in the Yodotai faith at the moment, and it revolves around the soldier’s cult of Decanus. Decanus is what the Yodotai call Duqaq, the prophet of the Burning Sands who played an important role in the Awakening. Decanus not only served as an advisor to Aurelius himself, but saw to the freeing of all of the Hanif slaves that the Senpet had taken, alongside the Scorpion Clan. Furthermore it was Decanus that led Aurelius and what remained of his forces out of Medinaat al-Salaam when the battle turned against the Yodotai, thus saving the Warlord’s life. Many of the Hanif that were enslaved or their children and many of the legionnaires serving in Medinaat al-Salaam pray to him as a Saint. That is problematic for many of the more orthodox faithful as, so far as any records are aware, Decanus never converted to the faith nor showed any devotion to Conquest or his siblings. Still, many, even priests, are wary of telling veterans who they can and cannot worship and it is known that the man was by all rights a hero of the Yodotai people. The issue is a complex one and unlikely to be resolved quickly or easily.
Displays of Faith
Temples are a common sight in Yodotai lands, and while they are not as ostentatious as those temples found in Senpet lands, no one could ever say that the Yodotai do not take proper care of their temples. While large services are a rarity at the temples, holy days and large events such as coronations usually have time devoted to them. Faith is kept rather informal, even if it permeates much of the society. Sacrifices and tithes are the primary methods through which the people speak to the gods and support the Empire, a not insignificant portion of the military budget comes from tithes given to the various temples, with each sibling’s temple having a different portion of spending focused on. A temple to Conquest may devote tithes to recruitment efforts while a temple to Fidelity may donate to arms and equipment and a temple to the Mighty and Merciless Sea will donate their tithes to veteran support.
Sacrifices are a large part of religious life as well. If one expects to gain the attention of a Saint or a God over other petitioners after all, sacrifices need to be made. Animals are the most common sacrifices, with a great deal of power thought to reside in their blood specifically. Birds and small mammals are common sacrifices for the peasant classes. Boar, wolves, or other powerful or dangerous animals are favorites of soldiers, either on campaign or while stationed somewhere. Among the nobility, larger creatures are prized as sacrifices, bulls are a common trend, though horses have been known to be sacrificed in the past. Beyond the value of the creature itself is also it’s rarity. The more rare or well bred the sacrifice is, the more value it has. Albinos have the greatest value of all, and are seen as especially prized by the gods. Human sacrifices, however, are seen as anathema, the gods and the saints disapprove of such gifts, seeing them as barbarous and weak.
Upon death, traditions vary depending upon what section of the Empire one hails from. The two most common methods of sending on the mortal body however are cremation or burial. Among the Hanif, funerals can be large, state-wide affairs as each citizen clamors to give their respects to the deceased, but while respect is given to the body of the dead, little thought is given to the care of the body once it is dealt with. The spirit of the deceased is far more important than the body itself, and for this reason, many noble families build Death Rooms, where the plaster molds of their ancestors are placed in places of honor, where their spirits may look down and witness to the glories or dishonors of their families as the ages go on. It is of supreme importance among the Yodotai elite to never dishonor their Families, which causes many to strive for ambition regardless of the cost.
Lifestyle
Faith in Conquest and his siblings is about supporting the State and the lifestyle of the faithful is a good representation of that. Many political positions are seen as blessed by either one or many of the gods and those in said positions are as much priests as they are political officers and are expected to take both positions very seriously. The results are mixed, of course, but such people rarely hold the position in question for long. Such Citizens are expected to be the representative of the gods, after all, and the people will not stand for representatives that may anger Conquest and his siblings.
For the most part, people see to their own affairs when it comes to faith. While priests may be called upon to bless a particularly important day or location or oversee an important sacrifice, for the most part people see to daily faith themselves, maintaining family shrines, making personal sacrifices and prayers. Portents, however, are always left to the professionals and are quite popular. While the Empire practices almost all of the variances of divination, the two most popular within the Empire are the practices of Augury and Haruspex. Imperial matters are often left to the Pentarchs, the five religious heads of the faith. Each Pentarch oversees a portion of the Empire in theory. In practice, the Empire has expanded far beyond the limits of any one Pentarch to actually oversee the faithful of their lands and they remain, for the most part, in Octavion. This leaves their underlings to oversee the day-to-day faith of their respective lands.
The people of the Yodotai Empire live with the knowledge that their ancestors and their gods are watching them constantly, making certain they live up to the standards that had been set before them. This certainty and judgement which go hand in hand can cause quite a bit of consternation as those less capable try to live up to the past that has been set out before them. The results are always spectacular, but not always good for the Empire. Still, with nothing ventured, nothing is gained, as the opinion of the Empire seems to be.